Poll: Burr favored over Marshall

AP

July 26, 2010 9:00:00 PM PDT

RALEIGH --

Candidates for U.S. Senate have less than 100 days to make their case to voters and conservative-leaning Civitas Institute released polling information Tuesday that shows North Carolina incumbent Richard Burr, a Republican, is favored for reelection this fall.

Of the 600 polled voters, 44 percent lean toward or support Burr, while his Democratic opponent Elaine Marshall garnered 37 percent of polled voters. Fifteen percent of voters said they are undecided, and less than three percent say they are likely to vote for Libertarian candidate Mike Beitler.

Civitas says Marshall's problems include low name recognition, the potential for party crossover, and weak support among unaffiliated voters.

"The unique feature of this race is both candidates' relatively low name identification," Civitas Institute Senior Legislative Analyst Chris Hayes said. "Despite Burr being a U.S. Senator and Marshall having been elected statewide multiple times, many voters are still unaware of either candidate," he said.

Sixty-two percent of voters polled said they have no opinion or are unaware of Marshall's candidacy.

Burr also suffers from low name recognition, but not to the same degree, says Civitas. Twenty-nine percent of voters polled said they have no opinion of are unaware of the incumbent's candidacy.

"Even a right-leaning poll shows Marshall in striking distance, and that Senator Burr's vulnerable," Swartz said. "This poll shows what every poll has shown for the last year --that after 16 years in Washington, Senator Burr's in deep trouble and the voters want to replace him."

The polling data was collected in mid-July by Tel Opinion Research of Alexandria, Virginia. The voters interviewed voted in the 2004, 2006, 2008 elections, or were newly registered since 2008. The poll margin of error is plus or minus four percent.